A Millennium In Your Arms
by DragonRose888
Summary: Gary Oak's big sister has stumbled upon strange artifacts around Ash's hometown that seem to point to an ancient city near Pallet Town. As the mysteries of the city unfold, a millennium-old battle for Earth and timeless romance come to light. AshxGary
1. Prologue: Dreams

Won: Oh, I bet you're all tired of me making new stories like this...but it's been on my mind for a VERY long time, and I had to put it up...

It's dedicated to my good friend, **AnimeDutchess**. She's been a great friend, and a great rper, and this is souly for her enjoyment. Thanks, AD!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Yeah, I know the prologue is UBER short, but it's to whet your appetites. I'll be putting up the real first chapter right after this. Pinky promise.

**A Millennium In Your Arms**

A Wonnykins Production

_There's a boy here, and I keep seeing him in my dreams. When I look at him, he looks just like me, but he dresses like he's some kind of god. He smiles at me sadly and tells me he wants me to wake him up, and I don't know how, and the dream always ends with him crying for someone he says he loves, and the shadows that follow us both fade. And I can't help but realize that the shadow looks like someone I know, and that it's someone I want to be with..._

The dark-haired boy sat straight up in bed. He didn't sweat, didn't gasp, didn't pant. Just sat there, stock still, listening.

The bedroom around him reflected his interests for the past few years; there were, of course, various Pokemon objects scattered here and there, though more recent additions were keepsakes and photos of his travels, mostly with friends.

The most evident of these new things was, of course, the furry, yellow pokemon sleeping at his feet. Pikachu's right ear twitched in its sleep, but it seemed not to notice that its master was awake.

Troubled, the fifteen-year old cast a wary glance at his clock. It read a little past two in the morning. Feeling as though sleep wouldn't come to him again that night, Ash Ketchem got out of bed and went to his window.

It wasn't that this dream scared him. No, that wasn't the case. It was just strange, how it kept popping up more and more frequently. Always that same face looking back at him, always ending with tears and the odd disappearance of two shadows that didn't look a thing like either of them. Frowning, he leaned against his bedroom window, willing himself to think of something other then the dream.

Ash finally settled on the Oaks. It was a rare subject for him to think about, really, now-a-days. Gary, of course, upon his return into everyone's lives, was acting funny, and Ash had tried figuring that out for a while out of boredom. The professor, of course, was still into his research, and that was normal, in a sense.

No, the Oak Ash was thinking about was the one who hadn't been present for a long while.

Mai was Gary's older sister. She'd been a lot older then Gary from what Ash could remember. She must have been, he figured, because when she had been around, she was always babysitting her brother and Ash, so there must have been a large difference in age.

Around the time Gary had been seven, (Making Ash six), she'd suddenly gone away, and they hadn't seen her since. This, of course, was devastating for her brother, since the two of them had lost their parents years before. Gary still liked to say he talked to her, but nobody was really sure if this was true or not.

But, she was back, just as Ash remembered her, if not a little more shapely and taller. She claimed that she had stopped by to stay for a while, because of working-locations being close-by. At first, no one had none what she meant when she said this until Mai had explained that she was an archaeologist.

"A local found a couple artifacts in the river we used to fish in when we were kids." Mai said, softly, though her eyes had shined with suppressed excitement. "They're very rare, and the time period they came from is over a thousand years ago, when this land was all overrun with forest. We're thinking that there might be ruins of a lost civilization around here, somewhere, so we're following the river farther then previous explorers have to see what we can find."

She had seemed ecstatic about the whole possibility that she hadn't seen the clearly disappointed look on Gary's face. Ash believed that, in the fuss, he was the only one who noticed. He was surprised, when he confronted the other boy about it, that Gary told him what was on his mind.

"I just thought, you know, maybe she came back to see us." He had said, rather frustratedly, "We are her family." After that, he insisted he had things to do, and that Ash was bothering him, and he shooed him away.

Ash couldn't help but really agree with him. She'd only paused once in her ramblings to actually tell everyone how nice it was to be back home, and never once did she say anything to Gary. The dark-haired boy could see why her brother would be feeling a little hurt.

But, even though he thought her ignorance of her family was uncalled for, she did come up with something good.

After all was said and done, Mai invited everyone to spend a few days with her while she and her crew tried to look for the lost city, as cliché as it sounded. Needless to say, everyone excepted the offer. It was strange, though, because this time on his journey back to Pallet, Ash had brought all his friends. He'd thought that Mai's team wouldn't want so many people around, but she'd been glad to have everyone along.

So it all came down to tomorrow. Everyone, including the professor and, strangely, Ash's mother, were going with Gary's older sister to a place Mai thought was over a thousand years old, even though there was no proof, yet, that the place even existed. Well, he guessed that he'd at least could say, later, that he'd been on the trip.

The boy yawned, and he finally crawled back into bed, covering his shoulders with the comforter that was still warm. Tomorrow could wait. There was sleep to catch, first.


	2. Just A Hair Pin in Time

Won: Oh it's short, TOO SHORT! -howls- But it's what I have for the moment. Leaves you in suspense. Read it, read it and weep!

Disclaimer: gnihtoN nwO I. Read in mirror for message!

Ash and his mother were a perfect pair. They fitted well together. For example, even though Ash could easily sleep till noon, his mother woke up bright and early. How does that make them perfect? Well, Ms. Ketchem happened to cook rather well, and this usually woke Ash up bright and early. Perfect.

The kitchen was rather crowded when Ash made his way downstairs, finally. There was his mother, of course, and Mr. Mime, who Ash wasn't that fond of. But on top of the two usual presences in the kitchen, there were a few friends of Ash's as well. Brock, who was helping cook, of course, which would explain why Ash was up a little earlier then he usually found himself awake; Richie was trying to set the table, although he flashed Ash a smile when they saw each other; Dawn, a new friend of Ash's, and was currently asleep in her chair; Misty and May, two of the girls Ash had met apart from each other, both talking animatedly about something he was sure was girly; Max, the youngest, also asleep at the table, his glasses lying askew on his face.

To add to the crowded atmosphere was the fact that the Oak household had joined them, today. The professor and Mai were talking in low voices on one side of the table. Mai was a rather gorgeous girl, but you could see where she and Gary looked a little alike. The eyes, for example. They had the same shade of hair, though hers was wavy and hung down to her back. Tracy, the sketchiest who had become the professor's assistant, was, of course, sketching a picture. It seemed to be of Misty.

Which left Gary. To Ash's surprise, Gary looked a little exhausted. His eyes were half open, and he was sitting with his head on his arms. Ash would have laughed at him, but he didn't want to start anything so early in the morning. He had a feeling that the older boy would take it the wrong way.

"There you are!"

The dark-haired boy was cut off in his thoughts by his mother's ringing, cheerful voice beside him. She ruffled his hair fondly. "Morning, sweetie."

"Morning, mom." He slid into the first available chair, Richie on one side, and an empty one of the other.

At the sound of his voice, a few of the room's occupants looked up and greeted him politely and then went back to whatever activity they were involved in. Mai cut off her conversation and cheerfully waved his way, which he returned.

"It's about time you got up." Richie said, softly. "Everyone's been waiting for you."

This caught the dark-haired boy off-guard. "Why me?"

"Because we've got to figure out when we're leaving, and you were the last one awake."

"Oh..." He rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly. "Sorry."

His friend smiled. "It's all right. No one's gotten a whole lot of sleep, so they were hoping you'd come down a little late." The boy tried to hide a yawn, but did a terrible job, and Ash snickered at him, knowing very well who had hoped he'd come down later.

"Come on, everyone, breakfast is ready." Ms. Ketchem was balencing plates like a pro, and she managed to slide around chairs with ease. "Oh dear, someone wake up Dawn...shake her, dearie, don't poke her. Oh, My, get little Max over there, (he's so adorable sleeping, it's a shame to wake him)...Samuel, Brock has your food, I'm sorry."

The chattering climbed a notch. Finally, everyone had a plate in front of them, even Pikachu, who ate on the counter near-by, and the noise level calmed down.

"So," It was Mai who broke the silence, "Now that we're all present," She paused to fish a piece of egg off her chest, to which Gary snickered at, "Hush, you. Anyway, I was just saying, we need to figure out when we're going to head out. It's not far; we know where we're going, don't we?" She looked at her brother and Ash pointedly, and they nodded. She also balled up a napkin and threw it at Gary as payback. "Right. So, should we head out right this minute or wait for a little while?"

Everyone exchanged looks. Obviously, the sooner they left, the better, but there still were a few things that needed to be taken care of...

Ms. Ketchem voiced the opinion of the group, eventually. "I'd give us another couple of hours to prepare, dear. I don't think anyone's packed yet, even."

Mai agreed. "Then that's it then. We're leaving in two hours. If you aren't ready, you are getting left behind. I take no mercy. Any questions?" When there were none, "Good. Now then...Gary, shut up." She, again, had to fish egg from down her shirt. "It's not funny."

"Yeah, be nice to the lady." Brock stepped in.

"Why? Don't think I'm letting you hit on my sister."

Brock coughed and fell silent. Richie and Ash snickered. Unfortunately, Brock had chosen the seat beside Ash, and that meant the boy was in kicking range.

"Ow!"

"Boys, no fighting at the table..."

"Yes ma'am."

((((((((o)))))))))

Something different happened while Ash was packing. For a moment, only a moment, he had sat there and day-dreamed. It was just like falling asleep, and that was all it took...

_It was a small island in the middle of a small lake. The only thing on it was a cherry-blossom tree. A small house would have been the only other thing to fit. But, for now, there was only the tree. The image flickered. Where a bridge was would only be rotted, unrecognizable debris the next second later. And the boy on the shore, that looked just like Ash, would be there one second and then replaced with a mound of what looked to be diamond. _

_Then, the look-alike was face to face with him again. _

_"Are you on your way?"_

_Ash found that he couldn't reply._

_"Do you know where this place is?"_

_Still no answer._

_The mirror-Ash looked back at the island, now permanently stuck on the non-exsistant, collapsed bridge and the mound of diamond. "You'll know when you see it." He murmured, more to himself then Ash. "Be careful."_

_Finally, he was able to speak. "Why?"_

_"Be careful around evil." The look-alike didn't seem to be paying him any mind, now. "Evil is everywhere."_

_"How will I know?"_

_"You will know." The other said, simply. "Someone's coming. You'd better wake up, Ash..."_

When he snapped open his eyes, someone had, indeed come into the room, and had proceeded to shake him. His head rested on the bedside, while sitting in front of his backpack.

Gary looked down at him and frowned. "Odd time to take a nap, don't you think?"

The dark-haired boy shook himself. "I only dozed off..." He muttered. He was still confused as to why his dream would come to him now. That one had been different, too. "...How long was I out?"

"Not long." The older of the two admitted. "Half an hour, I guess."

Ash zipped up his backpack and stood up, slinging it over his shoulder. "You must be ready to go, then."

"I was when we all left the house, this morning." Gary said. "Mai didn't think we'd need to go back." He said his sister's name spitefully.

His tone didn't go unnoticed by Ash. "Are you still mad at her?"

"Sure. She hasn't said a word to me up until breakfast today."

"That's not good."

"Yeah, well, tell me about it."

The smaller of the two boys put a hand on the taller's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. She's just excited. Let her get calmed down." He put on his hat and then walked to the door. "Come on, let's get downstairs. Is everyone waiting?"

"Yeah, but for the girls. It's not like we're going to be away for a long time..."

"Try telling them that."

Gary let a small smile flicker on his face before walking out of the bedroom. The conversation ended there, but this should have left an imprint on both of their minds for later.

((((((((o)))))))))

The path towards the river wasn't a long one. Three of the large party knew the route by heart, and two of the elder members of the group had passed there many times. However, they didn't pause at the bridge. And there was a fence crudely placed on the other side, banning other people from entering the land north on the river.

"We'll climb through here. We had to put this up so that someone wouldn't stumble on our camp and steal something. Truth is, though, that we should have stayed as quiet about all this as possible. The fence raises suspicion." Mai elegantly stepped over the fence, waiting for the others. "Which proceeds to invite the more curious to venture into the area."

"I guess you weren't the one who wanted it put up, then." Richie guessed.

The girl nodded, helping her grandfather over the fence. "You'd be right. I know enough about the more curious people then anyone else, I believe..." Her eyes found her brother and Ash, and she snickered. "I did grow up with them."

Ash laughed, but, still in a foul mood with his sister, Gary didn't acknowledge her. She seemed to deflate a little when he didn't, but she continued down the river bank.

"It isn't too far, now. We move the camp each couple of days or so, depending on our findings. We're really hoping to hit something big, something that will really prove the fact that there was _something _here, a long time ago..."

Somewhere during her scientific speech, Ash grew bored and started to look for other things to entertain himself with. He didn't have to wait long. While everyone else talked, they almost walked past something in the river. It was sparkling on the bank, and it made him frown. He fell behind, stooping to pick up whatever it was. Rubbing off the mud coating the surface, he stared at the object.

It was a pin. A rather old pin. It reminded him of the ones his mother used to wear when she would go out places with his father, in her hair. It was made of a white, milky sort of stone, carved into the shape of a flower. Noticing that he was way behind the others, now, Ash stuck the pin into his pocket, a vague sense that he had seen it before floating in the back of his mind, and rushed to catch up.

Fate had him walking beside Gary once more. The older boy was walking towards the back of the pack, walking with one eye open, the other one shut tight.

"Practicing your pirate act?"

His open eye glanced over at Ash. "Very funny." He grumbled. "No. I'm not."

"Grouch." The dark-haired boy accused. "Then what are you doing? Trying to look cool?"

"I'd tell you if you'd stop guessing."

Ash shut his mouth and waited.

The taller boy rubbed at the closed eye, then opened it half-way. "I can't see well out of it. It's really weird. It's all blurry on that side." He closed it again, rubbing at it more vigorously. "I saw fine out of it last night. It's just gotten worse since I woke up."

Ash shrugged. "Maybe you shouldn't rub at it so much."

"I didn't make it this way myself, if that's what you're implying."

Gary's tone betrayed his annoyance rather bluntly, so the smaller of the two decided to switch topics. He pulled the pin out of his pocket. "Look what I found."

Curious, Gary leaned over and stared at the small object with his good eye. "It's a hair pin." He stated, flatly. "Is it your mother's?"

Ash took this rather offensively. "No. I found it a few seconds ago. And why would I take her hair pin, anyway?"

"Let's face it, Ash, you're not exactly a normal kid..."

Irritated, the younger boy stuffed the pin back into his pocket. "And you're a jerk. I thought maybe it was something from this weird lost city your sister's been going on about, that's all."

"It might be. Lemme see it again." Something in his tone convinced Ash that if he handed over the pin, he wasn't going to get it back, so he shook his head. "All right, you be that way. See if I care."

"You don't, so we can move past that point already." Ash shot back. "What makes you think I'd just hand you it?"

Gary raised an eyebrow. "Because I'm bigger and better then you are."

"You over use that excuse. Come back to me when you think of a better one."

His response was so smooth and so cold that Gary momentarily stopped walking, staring at his rival, who kept walking as though nothing had happened.

Ash had changed.

Won: There you have it. The first chapter. I apologize for the shortness. Two things.

1: The hair pin WILL have a significance. See if you can guess.

2: I didn't put in Gary's half-blindness just for a filler. That will also crop up later. No, Gary isn't going to go blind. I would NEVER! ...Or would I? X3


	3. Cuff Links and Blind Eyes

**Won: Okay, folks. Here's the next chapter in this new story. X3 I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing save for the plot.**

**Chapter 2: Cuff Links and Blind Eyes**

((((((((o)))))))))

The camp wasn't what they expected. Half of the group expected something more scientific, and half expected a more rugged look. The archaeological camp was neither; more like a mix between the two. While the scientists present wore lab coats, many of them were at the edge of the river on their knees, wearing khaki shorts and tank tops, shifting carefully through the mud on the banks of the river, exposing precious, thousand-year-old objects.

Ash was reminded heavily of an old fossil dig he had visited a long while ago with Misty and Brock, and he knew Gary was thinking the same thing. Pikachu scampered around, trying to find a place to perch where it couldn't be trampled by the people rushing back and forth. It wasn't having much luck, and neither was Ash, who nearly crashed into someone who wasn't looking where they were going.

"Careful!" Nearly everyone in the area yelped at once. It annoyed the boy, who hadn't been clumsy enough to run into anyone at all.

Mai led them into their largest tent. Inside, dozens of objects were sprawled out on several folding tables. Each one was different in some way, and each was tagged and numbered.

"These are our treasures." The girl was saying, smiling brightly. "Each object you see before you was made nearly or over one thousand years ago." She gently picked up something that looked like it had once been a beautiful, hand painted china cup. "Everything's been nearly ruined by being in that mud in the river, but time's done the rest of the damage."

Gary was moving along the display, frowning. Ash suspected that he was looking for something, and that puzzled him. He looked back at the others and immediately began to follow the taller boy like a shadow.

During his following, Ash found himself looking at the items, too. There were pieces of vases, small trinkets, old coins, more teacup-looking things, and...

What was that?

He paused. Fumbling in his pocket for his pin, he stared at the object that had caught his eye.

It looked like a brooch, only smaller. Perhaps a pair of cuff links, with one missing. It, too, was in the shape of a flower, only it was a milky black color. Finally succeeding in pulling out the pin, Ash compared the two. It was the same flower, in shape, size, and design. They were identical, and it was chilling. So his pin WAS an ancient item, after all...

"You saw that, too?"

The boy jumped, startled. Gary had seen him eying and comparing the pin to the cuff link, and he stood rather close to Ash, now. After regaining his composure, Ash nodded.

"I thought it looked familiar..."

The older boy reached out and picked up the small object. "It's odd. The metal on both of them are almost to the point of falling apart, but the stones are perfectly intact. They don't even look worn."

Ash frowned. "So?"

Gary gave him a withering look. "Nearly everything is worn with age on this table. Look, all the pottery fragments have edges, and they're all smooth. They should be sharp, but time in the river has smoothed the edges. It's the same with everything here. But the stones on these two," He held out his palm, "aren't like that. And they should be. In fact, I don't think we should be able to cut ourselves on them..." He pointed to Ash's thumb, which was bleeding slightly from a small cut.

"Huh? Hey!"

"Don't flip out." Gary set the cuff link back down and took one of his wrist bands off, pressing it to the cut. "It isn't deep." Ash looked at the pin, and saw that, in fact, there was blood on the tip of a petal.

"..." It disturbed him, for some reason. "...So...what's it mean?"

"Hm?"

"What does it mean if the stone isn't smooth?"

Gary thought about this for a moment. "...I have no idea. But it's weird. I'd have to ask my sister." He saw that Ash was snickering. "What?"

"I thought you had all the answers?"

"...Shut up." The boy put his wrist band back on, and Ash looked down at his thumb to see that the bleeding had stopped. "Be careful with that. I don't know much about hair pins, but I don't think they're supposed to be that sharp..."

"Just the pin itself." Ash added, sticking the item into his pocket carefully. He noticed Gary watching him as he did this. "I won't stab myself with it."

Gary shook his head. "I don't think that's just supposed to be a pin."

"What makes you say that?"

"The fact that just the tip of it cut you is a start..."

Ash rolled his eyes. "Look, you can rub it all you want: I cut myself on a hairpin."

"That's not what I was going to do. I think that's supposed to be something for self defense. It's..." He shook his head. "I'm wasting my breath. If you want an expert opinion on it, go ask Mai." He turned and started walking down the row of tables again. Ash realized that the boy had had his eye open this whole time. Again, he followed him.

Gary seemed to notice that he wasn't alone. "Don't you have someone else to bother?"

"Not really." Ash admitted, looking back at the others, still listening to Mai. "I'm not into all this 'look and listen, no touch thing'."

The taller boy snorted. "You never were, so that's believable." Ash decided to ignore this.

"What are you looking for?"

Gary stopped walking so suddenly that Ash ran into him.

"Owch...warn somebody next time..." The dark-haired boy griped.

But Gary wasn't paying attention. He was looking at something else on the table. Ash looked at it, too, and frowned.

It was a stone drawing. Faded with time, the stone depicted something...a tree...with small circles in it...the pictures on the circles were gone, now, but they seemed to be important. Below the picture was a bunch of writing that Ash didn't understand. Gary didn't seem to understand it, either.

"...Does this look...familiar...to you at all?" Gary asked, finally. The question caught the boy off guard, and he frowned.

"...No." His eyes turned from the tablet to Gary. "Should it?"

The green-eyed boy stared for a moment more and then shook his head. "No, I guess not." But something in the tone of his voice suggested that he was troubled by this picture. Highly troubled. And, staring at his face, Ash noticed something else.

Gary realized that he was being scrutinized, and he glared at the other boy. "Something on my face?"

"You can't see out of that eye, can you?"

Silence rang like a gong between them. Gary, for once, looked rather uncomfortable. Ash continued to stare at him unblinkingly. For a moment, nothing happened.

"...What makes you say that?" The green-eyed boy asked, softly, so that the others couldn't hear. They were coming closer.

Ash frowned. "Because that eye is lighter then the other one." He folded his arms. "I've seen a lot of pokemon with blind eyes to know that you can't see worth spit out of that one." His tone was accusing, and it made Gary flinch, which was rare.

The auburn-haired boy looked over Ash's shoulder at the other's, getting ever closer. "...Fine, I can't see out of it. If you tell gramps and get him worked up over it, so help me, Ketchem-"

"You don't need to worry about that." Ash cut in. "But if you suddenly start bumping into things, then we have a problem." He shifted to his other foot. "Besides, it's your business to tell him or not."

The older boy looked grateful, but the emotion passed over his face so fast that Ash doubted that it was there at all. "Of course it is." He said, defiantly. He crossed his arms, just as the others reached them.

"What are you two doing back here all alone?" Mai asked, puzzled. "You both didn't hear anything I said?"

"We heard scientific buzzing." Gary answered, bluntly. "And we decided to find something more interesting to do." Dawn, from the back of the group, stifled giggles, and whispered something to May, who blushed and nearly squealed.

Again, Mai looked disappointed. "Oh. I see." She gazed at the artifacts on the table. "I see you found our star piece."

She picked up the tablet with the strange writing on it and showed the rest of the group. "We didn't find this in the river. We got lucky: the back was sticking up in the ground, and someone tripped over it."

"What is it?" The professor frowned and looked closer at the engravings.

Mai beamed. "We're not entirely sure, but it looks like part of a story. This may have been a piece of a wall, at some point. So if we can find the rest of the wall, chances are, we can find out what the story is."

"That's it?" Gary frowned. "A story? That can't just be a story."

"Why not?" His sister had finally lost her patience with him, "Let me hear it! You seem to know all the answers!"

He glared at her. "Because if that was the case..." The boy pointed a blank stretch of stone on the side of the picture. "There'd be something else here. If this is back from Egyptian times, then it would be written like hieroglyphics, with one picture right after another. This isn't like that."

There was a pause.

"So..." Ash looked at the stone tablet curiously. "What do you think it is?"

The green-eyed boy stared at the picture for a long time. "I think..." He murmured, finally, "That it's a marker."

More silence.

"I don't think it was just stuck in the trail because that's where it fell. I think it was placed there. Someone, or a group of someones, is supposed to follow it."

"Then what does it lead to?"

Gary shook his head. "Look, I'm only guessing. I don't know all the answers. But if the picture has this tree on it, I'm thinking that the next marker may be at a tree that looks like this."

Mai was stunned. She then smiled real wide and hugged her younger brother. "You're a genius!" She cried.

Gary looked a little embarrassed. "Yeah, well, whatever..."

She put him down and told them she was going to tell the other archaeologists his theory, and that the place they'd be sleeping in was on the right. She then ran off, and the others slowly filed out.

Ash stayed behind. He hadn't said it, but he didn't think Gary was _totally _right. Something else seemed off about that tablet. Whatever it was, though, must have had to do with those circles.

Fingering the pin in his pocket, Ash finally left the small collection of artifacts alone. Behind him, the black cuff link glittered in the darkness.

((((((((o)))))))))

**Won: Oh ho! Look at me naming the titles! Yes, Gary can no longer see out of his right eye at all. And whats all this business with the flower-jewelry/wear? You'll soon find out. As for the stone tablet, you may want to keep your eyes peeled for it in later chapters. It plays a huge role, trust me.**

**Only one person knows the true meaning of the tablet. AND SHE'D BETTER NOT TELL ANYONE. **


End file.
